Old Friends and New Strangers
by Mc.Moog
Summary: What if Sgt. Foley and Lt. Vasquez survived and came back to fight the war with the ghosts? Please review so I can make better!


It was a pretty quiet day in Fort Santa Monica for once. It was actually quite boring to Hesh, who was sitting with his feet propped up on the table in the HQ. He had no current missions into No Man's Land and he didn't have any training scheduled.

Keegan walked in along with Logan and a couple other guys,"Hey, Hesh, wanna play some basketball?" Hesh was about to answer but was cut off by the perimeter alarm. "Get to your defense stations!"

Hesh grabbed his M4A1 and shot out the door, scrambling to get to his position at the gate. He was surprised when the gates started opening, and even more surprised when United Sates Marine Corps humvees rolled in. Elias came down the stairs of the HQ,"Stand down men." Two men got out of the humvee in the middle of the group, one of them being black, and the other being latin.

"Sir, we're here from Fort Sacramento, and we just got word of your base. I'm Lieutenant Vasquez, and this is Sergeant Foley." Elias nodded,"Alright, lets talk in the HQ. Logan, Hesh, Keegan and Merrick, come with us please." When they got into the building, Elias asked them to show exactly where their base was. Lt. Vasquez started,"We're right about here, we set up a defensive perimeter and built a wall around this neighborhood. I'm in charge of the marines that were there in the beginning of the war. Foley here is in charge of Army Rangers that were supposed to be our reinforcements, but when they got here their numbers were halved." Elias thought for a minute, then said,"What kind of ordinance do you have?" "Well, not a whole lot. We have more than you though. We have about twenty UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, three AH-64 Apaches, five M1 Abrams tanks, somewhere around ten LAV-25's, and more than enough humvees." Hesh thought about that for a second. That seemed pretty damn good compared to them. "Seems pretty good, so whats it looking like on manpower?" Lt. Vasquez chuckled a bit,"Well, thats where the damn problem is, we got all this shit, but not enough trained people to run it. So, we have about 200 marine foot soldiers and about 100 rangers. We only have enough pilots to fly the AH-64's and ten of the UH-60's." Elias nodded his head in understanding,"Ok, so what do you want us to do here?" 's eyes were suddenly interested in the floor, and sighed,"Well, sir, you're the only base that we've come in contact with for months, and we can't keep fighting them off. Our plans are to combine our forces with yours."

There was a long silence, and Hesh didn't know what to think. The plan seemed reasonable to him. He often wondered how well they would hold up if they faced a full on attack like last time. Elias broke the silence."I don't see why not." Hesh wasn't surprised by his decision. Lt. Vasquez replied,"Alright, I'm gonna get back to base and get the men moving. Do you have any pilots you can lend me so I can use the UH-60's to move more men?" Elias replied,"Yeah, I think we have somewhere around 15. Logan, go get the pilots and take them to the humvees." Logan nodded, and left the room. "I'm going to leave Foley and some Rangers here while I go.", Vasquez continued.

Elias agreed and Hesh stepped onto the balcony and watched as the convoy pulled off. Hesh was interested in Foley, so he set out to talk to him. He had to run to catch up with him and his rangers. "Hey, wait up!", he said as he slowed to a walking speed and finally caught up with them. "Hey, I'm Hesh.", he said sticking out his hand to shake hands. "Oh, I saw you in there." Hesh continued,"Yeah, and your names Foley, right?" Foley nodded,"Yep, Sgt. Foley of the Army Rangers. 75th Regiment. You remember the war about 15 years ago? Well, you're looking at the guy who went through all of it. These are my two closest friends. Thats Cpl. Dunn, Pvt. Ramirez, and Pvt. Roycewicz."

Hesh nodded at them, then said,"So you're in charge of 100 men, and you're a sergeant? What happened to all your officers?" Sgt. Foley looked down and Hesh didn't exactly know why. "Their all gone, died in the beginning of the attack. Our base took a direct hit. We used to have 500 men before all this." Hesh regretted asking the question. "Alright, well I'll leave you alone so that you can get into your barracks."

Hesh turned around while Foley and the guys kept going with their bags. He looked up as the first group of UH-60s started coming in, the loud rotors giving them away. He watched them land, the marines piling out with their bags and rifles. He started walking again towards the HQ. After a few hours, the last of the Rangers and Marines had been dropped off. He knew that the new vehicles plus the new men would really help them out. His train of thought was broken by Elias,"Get over here Hesh. We have plans to discuss."

Hesh got up from his seat to walk over to the large screen on the wall. "Alright, so this is our plan.", Elias began,"Vasquez, you and about fifty of your men along with Foley and about thirty of his men will launch a counterattack on this ridge line. Federation forces captured it a few weeks ago, and it serves as their FOB. Now, the plan is, A-10 drones will take out their armor and main defenses before you go in. Then, AH-64 attack helicopters will provide fire support during the operation."

So far everyone including Hesh seemed to be with the plan. Elias continued,"Foley's men will go up the main road in a Humvee column. Vasquez, you'll be in Blackhawks, once you get there you will split your men up however you want and take the left and right flanks. Once you capture the ridge, then we'll send in Blackhawks with fortification items like sandbags, barriers, and barbed wire. You will set up a reinforced FOB. Understood?" Hesh, along with everyone else, seemed to lose him at FOB. "So, what you're telling me is that we're setting up an FOB in enemy territory, while heavily outnumbered, about twenty miles away from here?", Lt. Vasquez asked. "Yeah, I don't think I left anything out. Oh, Hesh will be accompanying Vasquez, and Logan will be with Foley. Get to you're men and debrief them. Oh, and Foley, I think its about time that you git promoted to Lieutenant." Foley smiled at his promotion,"Thank you sir."

Hesh followed Vasquez to their briefing room, where the men were already assembled. "All right men, lets get started. We'll be ridin' in UH-60s. We'll be splitting up into two groups and flanking the left and right sides of this ridge. We will have friendlies moving up the middle, so I better not hear over comms that one of y'all dumbasses shot a Ranger. Hesh here will accompany us. Get your shit and move to the birds." All the men got up and started moving about, getting to their squads. "Hesh, stay close. If you need to know anyones name, just look at the back of their helmets." Hesh nodded in understanding. He was surprised at their straightforwardness. It was great compared to all of the complicated slang in special forces.

Hesh jumped in the chopper, surprised that there was no seats. "Hey, where am I supposed to sit?", He asked. He didn't quite understand when Vasquez responded after laughing,"You special forces assholes, you sit on the floor." Hesh sat down in the middle, his back leaned up against the wall. The helicopter was packed full of Marines, and he was shocked at their failure to follow regulation as some of the men let their legs dangle out of the chopper. When they saw the A-10 drones fly back over their heads, they took off, trying to use their small window of time in which the enemy would be confused. He looked down and watched as the Humvees pulled out of the gates. He wondered which one Logan was in. As they were approaching the LZ, Vasquez hollered,"Who are we!?" All of the marines responded at the same time,"UNITED STATES MARINES!" Vasquez continued,"And what are we!?" Once again the marines yelled,"HEART BREAKERS AND LIFE TAKERS!" "Alright, lets go get the mother fuckers!"

Hesh watched as they went down one by one. He saw one guy putting in a football mouthpiece, and Hesh asked,"Whats that for?" The man answered,"Last time I almost bit my tongue off!" He slid the mouthpiece back in and jumped onto the rope, sliding down. Hesh grabbed the rope and started his decent. As soon as he hit the ground, they started taking fire.

He ran over to where Vasquez was behind a fallen log. Vasquez barked out orders,"Sgt. Griggs, put that M249 to use and suppress them! First Sgt. Knox, take half of the men and take the left flank! Cover Fire!" Hesh watched as they moved and fought as one unit. Knox and his men peeled left, moving in a perfect combat spread. He suddenly realized that he was supposed to be firing and he popped up and started firing three round bursts. He wasn't firing at anyone in particular, just firing.

"Alright, push up the hill!" Vasquez hopped the log and started running, the marines following him. Hesh admired their courage. He hopped the log too, following their movements. He dove behind another log with the man named Griggs, and the one with the mouthpiece who he saw was named Thomley. As bullets were hitting the front of the log, sending splinters of wood all over them, Hesh looked over and saw Thomley calmly light a cigarette. After he lit it, he went back to firing his M4A1.

A couple hundred yards away, things weren't going much better for Logan. Him, Foley, Dunn, Ramirez, and Roycewicz were pinned behind a humvee. Foley said,"Alright, Ramirez, get on that fifty cal in the Humvee, Roycewicz, use your M14 like a marksman rifle is supposed to be used and actually hit something dammit! Dunn, Pvt. Rayner over there took a bullet, go patch him up." Dunn went to move, but turned back around,"Wait, where are they?" Foley rolled his eyes,"Right there dumbass! The bleeding guy!" Dunn dove into the ditch a few yards away. "Alright, Logan, stay with me. Ramirez and Roycewicz keep doing what you're doing, and I'll see you at the top of the hill."

Logan stayed low, but moved fast keeping up with Foley. "Sgt. Robinson, get your men and try and push to those rocks." Logan hit the ground along with Foley as a round of machine gun fire tore across their position. "Medic!", someone yelled. "Hey! Pvt. Massey! Get on the god damn radio and call in those apaches! We have a bunker still operational and its preventing us from moving up!" The soldier got right to it, calling it in. About a minute later, the AH-64s few low over them, and proceeded to level the bunker. "Alright, lets move! Charlie squad provide cover fire! Alpha, and Bravo need to push up!" Logan started running up the hill, stopping only to cover his allies.

They kept pushing until they finally reached the perimeter wall. Foley said,"Pelayo! Get those explosives over here! Blow a hole in that fucker!" Logan moved a good fifteen feet back and turned away as the explosives detonated. Two soldiers immediately threw grenades in. After they exploded, Logan rushed in behind Foley. Foley fired his SCAR-H and dropped two of them. Logan put three bullets into one coming out of a bunker. Groups of men started to clear out the bunkers. Logan jumped into the trench line on the left side of the FOB, holding down the trigger and mowing down three men. Foley jumped in behind him, killing two behind him.

"This is going out to all Outlaws, this is Outlaw 2-1, we have taken the base, repeat Outlaw 2-1 controls the base. Gates are open. Bring in the Uh-60s."Logan and Foley got to the middle of the base, where they were greeted by Dunn, Ramirez, and Roycewicz. Foley broke the silence,"Good job Outlaw 2-1. Get ready to reinforce this position, Dunn get me a casualty report. Logan, you can roll with us any time, you're a damned good soldier."


End file.
